Image Credit: NYCHA.
On May 20, 2024, Mayor Eric Adams announced that the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) will begin accepting applications for the Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher program, which is the first time the waitlist has been open to new applications for almost 15 years. The voucher program is federally funded and administered by NYCHA for rental subsidies for low-come families to rent private housing. Households with a voucher can search for housing within a neighborhood of their choice.
To qualify, households must have a gross income of 50 percent or below the area median income and generally pay 30 percent of their adjusted income toward rent, with subsidies covering the remainder. Interested households can apply for the waitlist starting at midnight on Monday, June 3rd to 11:59 PM on Sunday, June 9, 2024. After this application period, a new waitlist is expected to be established by August 1, 2024. When the application period closes, 200,000 applications will be selected randomly to join the waitlist. After the waitlist is established, applicants can check their status on the NYCHA Self Service Portal.
Currently, NYCHA provides these types of vouchers to 241,117 residents to rent apartments from the private market, and provides access to social service programs to those on the waitlist. The vouchers help more low-income New Yorkers secure housing when more public housing is not available. NYCHA has continued to work through the waitlist since it closed in December 2009. In 2023, NYCHA issued 7,538 vouchers.
The application can be found here. For more information about eligibility, click here.
Mayor Adams stated, “After 15 years, we are reopening NYCHA’s doors to hundreds of thousands of new Section 8 applicants and helping more New Yorkers find the housing they need. Addressing our city’s housing crisis means using every tool our city has, and that’s exactly what we are doing. From advancing 24 housing projects on public land this year through our ’24 in 24′ plan, to fighting for our ‘City of Yes for Housing Opportunity’ proposal to build a little more housing in every neighborhood, we are committed to helping every New Yorker find and stay in their home.”
NYCHA CEO Lisa Bova-Hiatt stated, “As the largest landlord in New York City, NYCHA understands firsthand the importance of affordable housing for New Yorkers and the need to use every available tool to connect more families with a safe place to call home. We are proud to administer the most expansive Section 8 program in the nation and look forward to reopening the waitlist for this critical rental subsidy.”
By: Veronica Rose (Veronica is the Editor of CityLand and a New York Law School graduate, Class of 2018.)